Laser cutting in larger volumes

When you are looking to have parts produced in large volumes, you may not immediately think of laser cutting. Laser cutting is often seen as a way to easily produce prototypes or make small volumes. Not everyone knows that laser cutting in larger volumes is also possible. In this article we tell you the ins and outs of laser cutting in larger volumes and what the advantages are.

Let's first clarify the terminology. By 'larger volumes' we mean several hundred to hundreds of thousands of copies, depending on the dimensions. Compared to what laser cutting is often used for, this is a form of mass production.

On the other hand, in the established world of mass production (for example through injection moulding), these numbers of hundreds to hundreds of thousands of pieces belong to the 'low volume' category.

So what do we call it? 'Low volume' or larger volumes?

In this article we will talk about laser cutting in larger volumes , because it is special for laser cutting that we can produce in volumes of hundreds to hundreds of thousands.

Larger volumes

What is unique about laser cutting at Snijlab is that we produce larger volumes. We have developed a special laser cutter for this purpose, autoSPOT. With this laser cutter, the sheets of material no longer have to be placed in the machine manually, but this is done automatically. In this way, laser cutting is ideal for producing larger volumes of parts where precision and accuracy are of great importance.

Why we are so enthusiastic about laser cutting in larger volumes

No longer a manual process

With a simple laser cutting machine, the material to be cut must be loaded manually (plate by plate). We were so bothered by this limitation that we developed a new machine: autoSPOT.

'Clean cutting without repetitive manual work.' That was the goal we had in mind when developing this automated laser cutter.

AutoSPOT is very suitable for production in larger volumes and delivers the highest quality and speed from our machines.

The features of autoSPOT at a glance:

• 175W laser power

• 3x Linear motors for high accuracy

• Working area: 620x420 mm

• Materials: plastic and wooden sheet material up to 22mm.

• Operations: cutting + engraving

Capacity

Because autoSPOT does not have to be manually supplied with material, the machine can work unattended. This means we can produce 24 hours a day and capacity is not easily a problem.

No more attacks

Unsightly brown or black deposits on laser-cut parts; a common problem and potentially a showstopper when you want to produce in larger volumes. You can quickly clean a prototype of your part by hand, but that is of course not possible with larger volumes.

AutoSPOT produces clean parts. Plastics can therefore be cut and delivered without protective film. This foil does not have to be removed from the (thousands of) parts (double-sided) later. And wood no longer needs to be sanded clean. This smoke- and spot-free cutting saves a lot of time and annoyance during finishing and makes the difference, meaning that laser cutting at Snijlab offers possibilities that other players in the market do not offer.

Laser cutting in larger volumes compared to other techniques

Freedom of form

Although 3D printing naturally takes the cake in terms of design freedom, parts can often also be easily designed for laser cutting. Moreover, you have access to many high-strength plastics, decorative materials and wood.

Suitable for prototyping - fast time to market

How many rounds can you prototype in one week? Because let's be honest; how often is a design right the first time? You usually need a few rounds of improvement. The speed at which you go through this determines your time to market. With 3D printing you can go much faster than before, but if you outsource it, you often wait a week or more for your delivery. With laser cutting you can have your prototype delivered the next day and therefore switch very quickly.

This is a particular advantage compared to injection moulding. Injection molding is very suitable for really large volumes, but because it requires expensive molds, making prototypes or small volumes is expensive.

Suitable for larger volumes

Conventional laser cutting is good at the above three aspects, but not at producing larger volumes (due to the manual nature of conventional laser cutting). Laser cutting at Snijlab is.

	time to market	freedom of form	suitable for prototyping	suitable for larger volumes
3D printing	☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆	☆
injection molding	☆	☆☆☆☆	☆	☆☆☆☆☆
conventional laser cutting	☆☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆☆	☆
Cutting lab laser cutting	★★★★★	★★★	★★★★★	★★★★

Our laser cutting process scores well across the board and is therefore an all-rounder.

It has now become clear to you that laser cutting with autoSPOT is a very suitable way to produce larger volumes. It has many advantages and hardly any disadvantages.

In this case study you can read how Alphatron Medical had various parts made in larger volumes for their mobile care station “AMiS-PRO”.

If you want to have hundreds to hundreds of thousands of copies of your design made, contact us. You can start immediately or contact us .